Swank Pets Dog Blog

The polls are in, and the most popular dog registered by the American Kennel Club (AKC) is the….Labrador! However, this should come to no surprise since its been the most popular dog in the United States since 1991. In fact, the labrador was the most popular dog in almost all 50 states with a few exceptions. The AKC released some facts about the most popular dogs recently, and gave some interesting figures. One of the few states that knocked the labrador to the No. 2 spot was New York, where the Poodle was the most popular dog of choice. Spokespeople from AKC also mentioned that dogs with low grooming requirements have become more popular, while dogs with higher grooming requirements have declined.

What caught my attention was the No. 2 overall most registered dog in the United States. This title belongs to the Yorkshire Terrier, also known as the Yorkie. That’s right, the Yorkie is slowly taking over homes all across the United States. Being a Yorkie owner myself, I’m actually quite proud. In fact, the Yorkie surpassed the ever popular German Shepard and Golden Retriever. The state with the highest amount of registered Yorkies was Oklahoma, beating out the Labrador. Let’s just hope that these Yorkies in Oklahoma don’t belong to puppy mills!

The trend for toy breeds has grown rapidly in recent years. They now account for 23% of all dogs registered with AKC in the US. This is almost double the amount from the 1970′s. I really think there are a couple reasons for this toy dog phenomenon. First, the real estate market. Being a Realtor myself, I’ve seen an astronomical explosion of condo high rises and condo conversions spring up all over downtown San Diego, and the rest of the county. The trend for condos doesn’t stop in San Diego, as many other metropolitan cities across the US have sprung up during the recent housing boom. With the limited space that condos provide these days, many people are limited on the size of dog they can purchase. Furthermore, without a large yard, it makes it nearly impossible to own any sort of sporting breed. In comes the toy breed dog tsunami. Every where you look now, you can find a woman cradling her chihuahua in small dog clothes, or toting them around in a small dog carrier.

However, the small dog clothes phenomenon doesn’t stop there. Paris Hilton has taken this trend to another level. This star socialite and avid dog lover sports a new outfit on her pooches everyday. Check out any celebretity tabloid magazine such as Us Weekly or Star, and you’ll probably find a picture of Paris Hilton or her trusty sidekick, Nicole Richie, modeling their toy breed dogs in little tiny dog clothes and carriers. And when celebreties have something, the rest of the public must follow, which leads to my second reason why the toy breed craze has come about. Yes, I really think that all the stars with their toy breed dogs has made it somewhat popular to own one of these cute little dogs.

But let’s not get the wrong idea here. These two reasons I’ve just thrown out are just my thoughts. Let’s not forget some other reasons why toy breed dogs are so popular:

1. They poop very little and pee small puddles.

2. They can cuddle in your arms as you sleep at night

3. They don’t eat a lot (in general, since my little Munchkin is actually a little porker)

4. They’re absolutely cute as can be!